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The controversy surrounding the order for a new trial for former judge Jacques Delisle is growing. The former federal Minister of Justice claims that he did not only rely on the report of the Criminal Conviction Review Group of Canada (CCRG) to make his decision. He said he had requested two legal opinions, however refusing to reveal their origin.
It's not just the GRCC report, he assured in an interview on the Isabelle Richer show on Monday. As a minister, I am framed solely by a quest for justice. I have the power to request further evaluations, further evidence.
Last week, we learned that the report of the GRCC, a committee of jurists from the Federal Ministry of Justice, concluded that there had been no judicial error in the case of Jacques Delisle and that the new expert opinions presented to support his request were based on evidence that already existed at the time of the trial.
Who did David Lametti turn to for these legal opinions? What do they contain? David Lametti claims that since he is no longer a minister, he no longer has access to contracts or documents and that he is subject to the rules of confidentiality between a lawyer and his client.< /p>
The Jacques Delisle Affair
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The Jacques Delisle affair
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There were questions raised in the documents, and I was convinced that there was something to redo, defends the former member of the Trudeau government.
In normal times, Canada's Minister of Justice can turn to the Special Advisor on Wrongful Convictions, the Honorable Morris J. Fish, a former Supreme Court Justice . Its mandate is to review applications at different stages of the review process and provide independent legal advice.
However, in this case, this was not possible. Morris Fish sat on the Court of Appeal at the same time as Jacques Delisle.
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Morris Fish served on the Supreme Court of Canada from 2003 to 2013. (Archive photo)
The minister said he still turned to an imminent person, with a status similar to that of Judge Fish. It took a while, but I wanted to be sure because I knew the person's reputation, says David Lametti.
James Lockyer, an eminent lawyer who worked on the case of former judge Delisle, was not consulted, assures David Lametti.
I can assure you that for me the process should be fair and equal. For me, what concerns me is to be neutral in the evaluation and that is what I did. I took my responsibilities seriously
A quote from David Lametti, former federal Minister of Justice
These explanations come the day after the questions raised publicly by the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions of Quebec (DPCP), Patrick Michel, who told Enquêtethat he expected the former federal Minister of Justice to publicly justify his decision to have ordered a new trial at the former judge in 2021. He declined interview requests from Investigation.
In an interview last week, Patrick Michel considered it inconceivable to learn, after three years of additional procedures, the existence of legal opinions.
We didn't know these reviews existed. It doesn't help us understand. On the contrary, it arouses even more incomprehension regarding the minister's decision-making process to order a new trial, he said.
I don't want to speculate, but we are entitled to ask ourselves: if we had had these opinions at the time we asked them, would that could have influenced our decision to continue the procedures? Just that we have to ask ourselves these questions is worrying. This is not desirable for public confidence, he claimed.
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Patrick Michel, criminal and penal prosecutor
After proclaiming his innocence for years and saying he was the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice, ex-judge Jacques Delisle finally admitted last week to having caused the death of his wife by pleading guilty to murder. manslaughter. Nicole Rainville was found dead of a gunshot to the head in 2009 in their Quebec condo.
Former minister David Lametti recalls that the GRCC has been heavily criticized in the past.
I proposed changes in the law precisely to avoid such a situation in the future, he argued.
I never said that the ex-judge was innocent. I handed everything over to be re-evaluated by the person who must do it in our system, a judge at first instance
A quote from David Lametti, former Minister of Justice
